The Opelousas courier., 1887-05-07
THE CORAL KEYS.
Odd Customs Of a People in
the Gulf Of Mexico.
The Business Enterprises and Habits Of the
Residents Of Key West

Perhaps there is no place in tn
United States SO much talked about i
New York and so little known as Ke
West. It is generally associated will
cigars. 1t is the largest Of a series o
coral islands, called keys, which dot til
ocean at the southern end of til
peninsula of Florida. It is entire,
away from the mainland, which
is only to be reached by steamer. Blu
on this coral reef is a city containin:
30, 900 inhabitants, consisting of Conchs
Cubans and negroes, with a few Ameri
cans. Perhaps the island has a brigh
future before it, for it has had no pas
and very little present. While Other
cities in the Union have been up and
doing, this coral key has been asleep il
the Gulf. 1t is the most southerly part
of the Union in fact, the very end Of
the United States. The city is the only
one in the country where neither NOW
nor frost has ever been seen; the temper
AZURE is about rs or so degrees in the
day and about 65 at night. Cummuni-
cation is kept up with the rest of the
world by means of a line of steamers
from New York, another from New Or
leans, and a mail steamer two or three
times a week by way of Tampa, Fla. By
the last we get New York papers about
three days old. The island is as fat as
a pancake, the highest point being only
IL feet above the level of the sea. One
would think that during a storm the sea
would roll over the island md drown
out poor little Key West. The city
proper is densely populated, but is as
mike an American city as possible. All
the houses are made of wood and built
quite plainly. There is no show of or
namentation or decoration, to say moth.
Ing of what is called architecture. Oace
In a while you may detect something
that looks like lattice work, but it is
plain, and it is not intended to display
anything. Many of the stores have no
signs upon or about them, and the store
keepers look as if they did not care
whether they sold anything or NOT.
There are no hotels, and those who de-
sire a temporary residence have to hunt
about for boarding house.
The streets are wide and dusty, for
there are no %sprinklers. Tn fact, water
is such a luxury in the dry season that
1t car n 1T be wasted in sprinkling the
streets. 1t is rain water caught in els
terms when the heavens furnish a supply,
and is often carried from place to place
IN pa Ii supported by a yoke from the
Shoulders. An attempt was N time
to drive an arte sian well, but the
water when reached was SO brackish that
ceul only be used for the extinguish-
OF fires. The dust flies continually,
lac roadway is hari, being the solid
coral rock itself. There is no surface
l, What passes for soil is nothing
more than this rock ground ur. It is
nice thing to have blown over
new black clothing, and still a nicer
thing to get out of the cloth afterwards.
As before stated, the population con
lists mainly of Cubans, Conchs and ne
$1,000 n.y. ~@1
sroes. The Conchs are in reality natives
II the Bahama Islands, but everybody
n Key West calls them by that name.
Jlgar making is the principal employ
nent of the Cubans, and there is plenty
# work for them, as Key West contains
.25 cigar factories. 1t is said on good /
authority that 80, 600, 900 cigars are i
away from the island every
ear. !,
The Cuban is not very strong looking. j
lis sports are gambling and rooster
The women are fairly good D
boxing, given to wearing high heels. I
ace shaWls and face powder. Both
len and women smoke and chatter like 4
Their fool is principally oil. a
ork, bananas and coffee. Their coffee '
good, but made so strong that it will Il
ain the cup from which it is drunk. o
hen in a restaurant the Cubans appear
talk all at once, each trying, as it I
ere, to drown the Others voice. and n
calculating as if about to strike each e.
her on the face. The Conchs are the
'hermen of the island and the gatherers a,
sponges. They are a large, rough te
ass ct men, and apparently very ign or fl
1t. One marked feature is their ac- fe
Mt, which is considered the chara { r Ii,
tic OF the Londoner-the dropping of &c
G aspirate where needed and usin1 II st
'eessiyely where not wanted. Thew
g their fists when fighting, while the
are ready with the revolver or
letto. York Mail and Express. W
cir